


The owl is calling you, it’s a nighttime

by Emms99coffee_star



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Adventures, Angst, Anne's childhood, Bonding, F/M, Flashbacks, Gen, Mentions of bullying and violence, Mild Swearing, friendships, travelling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:53:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27780319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emms99coffee_star/pseuds/Emms99coffee_star
Summary: In the time set after the infamous fair, Anne and Gilbert find themselves on an unexpected journey while Anne has to deal with a ghost from the past.Please be aware that while this is a Gilbert/Anne story, it focuses mainly on Anne and a chapter of her life that is made up by my mind.
Relationships: Gilbert Blythe & Anne Shirley, Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley
Comments: 8
Kudos: 19





	1. Prologue - Part1

**Author's Note:**

> This is an attempt for adventure story because I loved those growing up and it’s now fun for me to write. I hope that I will be able to maintain the genre and really hope that some of you will enjoy the story too. There are several AU characters because I enjoy making them up even though I’m horrible at it and still have plenty to learn!
> 
> Please note that I'm not able to update regularly or quickly but I try. If you don't like patience, I'll be excited if you give this a try when it's finished one day.

10PM Charlottetown

A part of her found it really funny that the attire that seemed so fitting and beautiful just few hours ago when she had been putting it on and excitedly thanking her best friend Diana for letting her borrow such spectacular dress, now were the last thing she wanted to be wearing.

She truly felt surreal, standing alone in the dark night, leaning against a column of Charlottetown’s post office but dressed in this exquisite gown. Her hair were pined in a complicated updo that Cole insisted on creating _to finish the overall look,_ and she had a small chestnut clutch holding few spare pins, some coins (exactly 5 nickels), a pocket mirror and a pair of Diana’s evening gloves. At least her coat was nice dark shade of blue and long enough to cover most of the jade glory of her dress underneath, it fitted much more to the dark surroundings. Trying to blend in with the unlit parts of the street, she tried not moving much, hands gripped tightly together behind her back and her body copying the shape of the column separating her and the rest of the street.

Anne was indeed hiding in the shadows, away from the eyes of other late street guests. From time to time, she looked up to the door of an inn placed directly opposite the post building, checking the people who were leaving, and exhaling deeply in relief every time, they ended up being regular unfamiliar visitors.

Her mind was reeling and she felt as though somebody took her thoughts and spread them all over the place. Not that she was completely unfamiliar to such occurrence, but this time, it wasn’t for the beautiful aspects of the world uncovering around her, putting infinite number of phantasies and new ideas into her mind - no - this was like crashing her head into the thickest wall causing her ability to think straight shatter and perish. There was no focus, no plan, no idea what she was even doing, or what to do next. There was only the ultimate need to know where **they** go and what that what happened earlier was all about.

She couldn’t believe it was only like an hour ago. It happened so suddenly - so unexpectedly, so quickly. Her brain had turned into mush and she’d acted without thinking, not planning her next steps or caring about any consequences - she had just ran.

But now, standing here, alone and hiding, she was starting to realise what foolish action it had been. The stone of the column was cold, an unpleasant breeze of spring night was creeping through her coat and when she let her hands down, she could see they were shaking horribly. Moreover, she was becoming quite aware how dangerously close to complete breakdown she was. She did not remember when was the last time she felt unhinged like this.

Oh, how much she wished to forget the past hour and go instead to the warm, comfortable home of aunt Jo. She could have remained unaware, happy to be in the company of her best friends, look forward to seeing Marilla and Matthew, and telling them every little detail of her grand evening. But the other events of this evening - **that face** \- there was no way she could play blind now. Besides she wasn’t somebody who would give up just because it was cold and she felt unpleasant! Of that she was certain. There wasn’t other option but put herself together.

 _And that immediately_ , she thought while looking around the mostly empty street once more, spotting just few men that were hurrying the street away, all hunched and wishing to be finally at home, no doubt.

Therefore, she rubbed her hands to warm up and began the routine of slowing her breaths. She had to calm down!

_Breath in._

_Deep._

_Breath out._

_Slowly._

Familiar and yet entirely strange face flashed her stare and she quickly shut her eyes close, feeling the immediate prickle of tears.

_Again!_

_Breath in._

_Deep._

_Breath out._

_Slowly._

_Again._

_Again._

_Again._

_Again._

————————————————————

It was incredible.

Only few days ago, Diana appeared at her room with quickened breath from running and eyes glowing from excitement. With unusual speed, she forwarded her best friend an invitation to attend a formal concert held on Saturday in Charlottetown. There shouldn’t have been any difficulties as everything seemed to be arranged perfectly; aunt Jo generously offered the hospitality of her home and their friend Cole promised to be their chaperone. The only thing Anne had to do was to convince Marilla to let her go with Diana and aunt Jo by Saturday morning train to the town and let her stay with them overnight. Anne still held her breath on that - it was very short notice - and almost couldn’t believe her ears when Marilla agreed, only pointing out the increased amount of tasks Anne would have to do the week after. Very joyous, her and Diana danced around Anne’s room for good hour until Marilla shouted at them that she doesn’t let their antics destroy her only place to live and to get out.

Therefore, the following Saturday, her, Diana and Cole glamoured up and took aunt Jo’s carriage and coachman to the Hall in Charlottetown. The place was decorated charmingly with vases that were full of flowers or empty, proud as art of their own. Anne admired each one of them and excitedly commented on every little aspect of arrangements, from brightly coloured rugs to crystal chandeliers. Cole added several details based on his recent art studies and in the end, they enjoyed the breaks almost as much as the actual music. They were just coming back to aunt Jo’s house, all three of them smiling and enthusiastically recalling favourite moments of the concert when out of sudden the carriage halted harshly on the Redmond street.

It was so abrupt that Diana landed on Cole who was sitting on the opposite side of them and hit the wall of the carriage with his back while Anne managed to grip the handle quickly to not end up on the ground.

“Are you alright?” demanded Anne instantly, helping Diana back on their seat and looking for any wounds.

“Yes, just got taken by surprise. Literally. I’m so sorry Cole.”

Cole fortunately straightened up on his own, seemingly also without injury.

“Can you hear that?” he asked, gesturing with his hand for them to be quiet.

Anne didn’t answer, but yes, she was also aware of the loud shouts coming from outside ever since they stopped moving. Although the actual words weren’t comprehensible, they were definitely angry. Listening to some more sent a slight shiver down her spine. The were _threatening._

“It’s the voice of Mr. Thomas arguing with somebody,” commented meanwhile Diana easily. “He’s probably just scolding the poor guys for carelessness. Aunt Jo is always telling stories how he unmercifully berates everyone who doesn’t follow the rules. One time, he supposedly made this other coachman cry!”

“I know that story!” Cole joined Diana and they shared a good laugh about different fights which Mr. Thomas was able to bring on.

Anne wasn't however stranger to different street mishaps and recognised the unpleasant air of **bad** fight. She could practically feel the tension outside, and the increasingly louder and angrier voices let her know that whatever the argument was, it was escalating quickly and dangerously.

Not wanting to alarm her friends though, she secretly looked out of the window to try and find out what was going on but for the darkness outside she wasn’t able to see anything particular.

It was difficult to form a carefree voice and smile, but somewhat she managed. “Guys, I’ve never heard Mr. Thomas say more than one word. I have to see it in person!”

“Anne, it’s dark!” protested Diana.

“Also, when you happen to be more in Charlottetown, you'll find that this is common occurrence,” tried Cole.

“That can take a long time,” Anne argued and sent her friends her famous stubborn stare.

“Alright, we can go and check-“ Diana started leaning to open the door but Anne stopped her.

“No! It was my idea and I know how much you both dislike the evening chill.”

“You can’t go alone!”

“Why not?” insisted Anne. “Nothing bad is happening and I'm just going to see Mr. Thomas. It’s not like I’m walking anywhere far from the carriage.”

“I’ll be right back,” she quickly stepped out of the carriage.

She was inwardly cringing for not being truthful to them, but why should she expose her friends to anything just because **she** wasn’t one to hold back? They were so assured that nothing was going on that it wouldn’t be fair to upset them. Moreover, perhaps everything was really ok.

With that thought, she smiled reassuringly at both of them, said “I’ll be right back,” once more and quickly stepped out of the carriage.

She tried to ignore the chill running down her spine together with the dark that was surrounding them this late and closed the door behind her.

As silently as possible, she walked slowly to the front of their carriage where the loud bickering took place. At first, nobody seemed to notice her so she could freely watch two robust men and one young woman, engaged in some sort of fight with their coachman. Thanks to the burning lamps belonging to the buildings of the Redmond street and the one that was enlightening their carriage, she didn’t miss the tight grip that one of the man had on the arm of the way younger, impossibly tiny woman dressed in excessively ragged clothes.

“Stay out of it, you runt!” shouted angrily the other man that had both hands free to gesticulate menacingly at their driver. Anne’s unease grew as she took in his impossibly tall figure with wide shoulders and arms.

Mr. Thomas who was much older and shorter, had the only advantage of sitting up at his seat but still didn’t appear even a tiny bit frightened. On contrary, his silver beard flashed in the glow of their lamp as he sticked his chin out and fearlessly kept shouting back own disgruntlement.

“You idiots! You lot just jumped in front of my horses! Do you know what could have happened?!”

“Don’t care! I told you to just shut up!”

“Oh, don’t listen to them!” shouted now also the woman who apparently didn’t feel any need to hold back despite her predicament. “Neither of them knows right from left! Would be better if they went to hell!”

The giant’s face grew crimson red with rage and Anne watched in horror as his right arm lifted in an alarming gesture before the other man hissed at him with clear warning.

This man had certainly the upper hand in their relations because the giant put his hand down immediately.

It appeared that his way-too-calm accomplice didn’t care to say anything else or move either, just holding the thin woman, however Anne noticed her sudden flinch and knew that he had to grip her arm particularly painfully.

Bracing the flinch as her own, Anne took few more steps toward the group and spoke up.

“What’s going on?”

All heads snapped in her direction and if Anne had felt uneasy before, she felt certainly nervous now.

For quite a long while, they all had been just staring at each other and nobody spoke.

Mr. Thomas looked suddenly horrified, gripping the rains while looking from Anne to the men. The giant man took on annoyed look and folded his arms, showing hard muscles and darkly tanned skin up to elbows where the sleeves of his platted shirt were rolled up carelessly. Meanwhile, his companion remained unbothered, still silently keeping hold on his prey and only granting Anne a scornful sneer.

The woman’s face swayed in Anne’s direction as the last one.

Her face was smudged with a blend of mud and blood and spotting an angry gush going from the right corner of her swollen mouth over the entire cheekbone wide to a dark hairline. Only her eyes stayed clear and fearless, and they were currently staring directly into Anne’s.

Anne felt herself go into shock.

_This can’t be true!_

She couldn’t believe the sight before her as the world became still and unfocused.

Disturbingly, it wasn’t even the angry wound that Anne studied with eyes out of her head. It were the unmistakable features, the heart shaped face and the big rounded eyes, coloured with silvery blue gleam of new-born kitten. Disbelief was the only emotion Anne could name at the moment. Everything else was just swirl making her dizzy.

“Miss! What are you doing outside?!” exclaimed Mr. Thomas who found his voice first among all. “Please return into the carriage immediately!”

Anne couldn’t focus. Although she could hear his words ringing in her ears, she wasn’t able to make any sense out of them, let’s form some answer. Once she saw the woman’s face, it was as if everything else ceased to exist. Instead, her brain kept pushing images of old memories as she continued staring at the familiar face of the woman still held securely by the nasty man. The man that had to yet say anything and whose icy cold stare was sending more dangerous messages than the clenched fits of his companion.

The injured woman -well, not a woman, a **girl** \- because Anne knew for a fact that she was even younger than herself- blinked few times with bewilderment of her own before covering it entirely by a blank expression and turning her gaze from Anne as if she was an empty air.

“This is bullshit! Let’s go inside!” Her voice sounded unexpectedly old, when she addressed her captor completely calm.

“Reason at least?!” his voice was low and controlled in that way that caused everything good and warm freeze.

Anne was correct in thinking that he was the cruel one. It was all evident in his tone. Her soul didn’t like it a bit.

Her soul didn’t like any of it.

Unfortunately as she still wasn’t able to utter a word - she wasn’t even able to pinch herself to make sure that this wasn’t just a nightmare - she could only watch as the girl let the man turn her and lead her without any other word to the most popular inn on the Redmond street, _The Cat’s Tail_.

He of course didn’t bother to say a word to her or Mr. Thomas, leaving that pleasure to his eager comrade.

“You’re lucky we don’t hold grudge. Wrinkly,” he said mockingly to Mr. Thomas before turning also to Anne.

“And you missy? You do better if you stay in the carriage next time!” threateningly, he made two more steps toward her so she could smell his acid odour and leaned a bit forward.

“Get away from her!” shouted Mr. Thomas and lifted his whip.

In answer came just a snort as the giant finally took leave after his companion.

When the door of the inn slammed behind them, Mr. Thomas let out a loud sigh of relief and smiled reassuringly at Anne.

“We can go now, Miss.”

Anne who hadn’t moved the entire time, still stared at the closed door. Only after several moments, she looked back to their carriage and finally settled her eyes on Mr. Thomas.

_No._

She made her mind in less than a second.

Knowing that speed and a moment of surprise could be her only allies, she didn’t hesitate, put on a look of embarrassed bewilderment and got moving while shouting at the poor driver still sitting in the same spot.

“There’s Matthew!” her hand pointed somewhere far from them across the street and she hoped that her voice took on at least little of the excited surprise that she was aiming for.

“Mr. Thomas, I completely forgot! I should have had met him this evening in the town!”

“Bu-but…. Miss! Wait!”

She didn’t give him a chance.

“Please tell Diana and aunt Jo that I am coming back to Avonlea with Mr. Cuthbert!”

Then she turned completely and ran. Her legs moved as fast as possible, trying not to get caught up in her skirts as she sped away. She ran in the direction of the nearest side street, hoping that he wouldn’t be able to step down from his seat so quickly and follow her.

She didn’t let herself listen to his desperate calls for her to stop and sprinted on.

Only when she heard the panicked voices of her best friends, surely alarmed by her own shouting, she slowed down just before she could turn behind the corner.

“Anne?!” “Anne!”

She faltered only for a moment, thinking about stopping and talking to them, telling the truth. But when she remembered the sight of the bloody gush, her mind recalling at the same time Diana’s gorgeous, purely white dress and Cole’s kind and gentle hands, her wonderful friends who thought that Mr. Thomas berated some pranksters, she couldn’t do that to them. Ignoring the pang of guilt and remorse, she resumed her sprinting, not turning back a bit and vanished completely out of their sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> Thank you for reading!
> 
> This had started just as me writing some stuff for fun and trying new things. After some time though, it has developed into a story that has suddenly a concept and even several story lines, and although this should have stayed only in my computer "drawer", I began wanting to share it with you guys so here we are...
> 
> The story focuses mainly on Anne and her new adventure. There will be some flashbacks to her past before living in Green Gables and because I can't help it and include him in everything I write, Gilbert is going to join her as well (I'm not even trying to make it a surprise). Personally, I think that the time set after the episode 6 of 3rd season is going to be interesting but I'm curious about your opinion. Gilbert and Anne should remain friends in the first part of the story, but we know them so only time will tell how they (I) manage!


	2. Prologue - Part2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flashback, The prequel: Finding a true friend is marvellous, for some, unbelievable luck.

**Warning: Please note that even though I tried to end this with positive vibe, there are mentions of distress. If you don’t feel like reading that today, please jump over to the next Chapter.**

**_Five years ago…_ **

If life taught little Anne one thing, then it was that she could never give up. Never falter and always push through.

No matter the obstacles, no matter the consequences, she would go on, true to herself, and fight against everybody and everything that would try to restrain her. Because the moment she would concede and allow anyone any power over her thoughts or mind, a feeling of utter emptiness would devour her and then, ultimately destroy everything she was.

And there wasn’t anything worse than that.

————————————————————

Anne felt horrible, if horrible could even describe the state she was in that early morning. After hardly sleeping all night, she absolutely wasn’t in the spirits to get out of her bed, especially when everybody else was just chattering around and getting ready for the day as if all was right in the world. She would preferably stay under the covers not to have to face anyone. Ever.

The thought however that if she didn’t appear at breakfast, a nurse would have to go up to their room, to check on her, irritated to have another task to deal with, made Anne shiver with repulsion even more. She didn’t want to talk to anybody, let alone an irritated keeper.

She had therefore allowed herself to wait at least till all the other girls from their room were already out, before slowly sitting up, and with a great effort got out of the bed. Her limbs protested and the immediate headache begged her to lay back down but she still forced her legs to make the ten steps it took to the washing place on the opposite side of their room right next to the door. Not that she cared for her appearance to feel a need to freshen up but didn’t want to receive caning for showing up dirty.

Out of habit, Anne first looked into the piece of glass that was hanging on the wall as their mirror, however the sight she met there caused her to immediately fix her gaze downwards on the tiniest puddle of water left in their bowl. Chasing away the fresh load of tears, she washed her hands and then splashed her face with the cold water.

As her eyes closed for a minute, palms resting against cheeks, she tried to put her mind at ease. The water was freezing, though she didn’t mind as she was pretty much accustomed to the cold that had accompanied her all her life and was actually glad for its calming effect.

Anne became an orphan as a little baby when her parents died young and there was no remaining family or someone close enough willing to take her. Therefore, her first memories consisted of the feel of the cold, dirty floors and the unhappy screams of other desperate beings. She was also pretty sure she couldn’t have been carried a step outside because according to her conviction, even infants weren't able ignore and forget the solace brought into soul by rustling of trees or the warmth of a daily sunshine hugging their face.

When she was three -almost four, she had found herself in the girl orphanage of Nova Scotia, an old house without garden hosting nothing good. She refused to believe that the first happy moment of her life - running from the old place to the nearest park and getting to discover nature’s most pleasant miracles - could have been experienced before and forgotten. The head nurse, Mrs. Pierce, only confirmed her bleak memories when she confessed that Anne had spent her first years in some religious facility of Reverend Lane who had an idea of raising children just with the help of God, no other assistance required, no special care, only providing the basic conditions for life like food, believing that children received the best just from their long moments with Him. To big dismay of Mrs. Pierce his facility had been shut down and the upbringing of the little beasts -as she called them- was forced onto her shoulders.

So it happened that Anne had spent her lost childhood years (a period when one wasn’t young enough to be considered a newborn for corresponding start of a family, but also too young to be accepted somewhere for help) in the orphanage. Now she was ten and certainly didn’t feel too young anymore. Letting go of her face, Anne dared one more look into the mirror. No, definitely not too young, she judged gloomily.

Turning around, she came back towards her bed, underneath which was her old dress and even older apron and proceeded to put them on. This year, it had started to become quite difficult for the dress to actually fit her - it had been too tight as she did -according to Mrs. Pierce- the annoying thing of growing out of her clothes, caused by constant feasting, but not anymore. Recently, Anne lost some weight due to a lacking appetite and the dress fitted her once again perfectly. Nobody cared they had been originally picked for her already three years ago.

Anne wasn’t able to count how many times she held a needle with thread and as neatly as possible tried to stitch together the small holes appearing in them all the time. Even though the needle work didn’t belong to her most enjoyable tasks, she managed it fairly well so the dress still kept together.

As every orphan girl, she had to know very early on how to do all the ordinary house things - learning the basics for placements in new family - which mainly involved kitchen duties, laundry, and to Anne’s utter excitement also ability to read, write and the basics of math. Since the absolute beginning, Anne’s favourite activity had been reading. It had became her spark of light. Not only did she enjoy being able to put together letters and words scattered across pages, but she had also quickly realised what real treasure was hidden in them. It was a completely new world where different characters were experiencing so many different fascinating emotions and exploits and she could secondhand with them.

She had discovered deep affection, love, loyalty, courage and kindness but also suffering, heartbreak, betrayal and unbearable pain that left her in tears for hours. The collection of books that she had been able to secretly acquire from around the house was however so incredibly small, that each word of each page had been fixed in her memory by second month since she started reading on her own and she still had longed for more. Then one night as if fate wanted to guide her in the right direction, she had a dream about her favourite heroin Countess Cordelia experiencing new adventure she had not yet read. Right the next morning Anne had concluded that imagination had gifted her a wonderful ability and she could do this consciously over the day too, doubtlessly even better. The Countess became a Queen, wolves transformed into dragons and the storm developed into a dreadful hurricane. Soon Anne had found out that the possibilities in this area were endless so she imagined big and knew no bounds.

But that had been before it all vanished like the sun above the clouds.

Fully dressed and standing up, she had to push back tears for a second time that day.

She tried to think of Queen Cordelia, how strong she could be and how she could fight off whatever danger with her silver sword, but her mind was staying blank. The same way as in all of the last days, Anne’s imagination remained shut down.

Thus, left in her terrible reality, she set out on the way downstairs to the dining room for breakfast all alone. Unarmed.

When she arrived, everybody was already there, eating. Some of her roommates looked up at her and sneered.

Anne tried to ignore them and sat down at the end of the long table. The only thing left for her to take were two pieces of burned bread. She smoothly grabbed one, not at all caring about the ash-like parts.

She always kept the burnt parts for herself anyway.

When she was seven, she went to live with a small family of a young, poor butcher, his wife and their newborn son. It was Anne’s first placement and at first, she had been in absolute delight as she believed, that finally, a loving family and home would have been there for her too. This notion had been quickly torn apart however as neither of the two adults intended to speak to her more than laying instructions for the day each morning. As everybody else, they despised Anne’s chattering and very quickly warned her to stay quiet in their presence.

They had spent all days at work while she had to learn to take care of the little one and of the whole house. Luckily, she still had her imagination to be able to find some fun during arduous days and their son Hutch had turned to be a great listener. So great actually, that Anne had been able to loose herself in her stories and forget everything else. Like for example that she had been in the process of ironing or making meals. More than once a week, she had to consume her burnt food, but for her, it had been wort it. Of course, she had to take appropriate precautions and steps to still meet the demands of her caregivers so they would tolerate her flaws, but in the end, she had learnt to cover her missteps and then come to like this life, savouring the company of the little guy she cherished. Thus it had been very hard and bitter, when not even two years later, he wasn’t in need of constant presence of another person, was able to join his parents at work during the day and she was to leave him and the little house.

When she now remembered the quiet and peaceful mornings with him, she wished to turn back time. Here it was also quiet, but different, in all its entirety.

The silence during meals felt heavy, especially in contrast to the loud chatter from their room. Sometimes, girls whispered to each other when they couldn’t wait till afterwards but usually all of them ate silently as nobody wanted to upset nurses that were outstandingly cranky in the morning.

The voice belonging to Mrs. Pierce cut therefore through the air notably sharp when she addressed the latest incomer who was just about to bite into her bread.

“Anne Shirley… you deigned to come among us!” she said in cold mockery and some girls started chuckling.

 _Do not listen to her!_ Anne struggled to keep to herself, to not to give anyone the satisfaction of her reaction.

“Don’t say, that even your made-up friends didn’t want to listen to your whims!" the vicious woman continued. "Or, perhaps they couldn’t bare to look at you?! Look at yourself! How should I be able to find you family when you look a fright! Nobody will ever truly want you!”

Now the girls didn’t strain themselves to keep quiet any longer and laughed aloud.

Anne couldn’t hold herself too and ran off, disappearing without a word back. Entering their room upstairs, she went right onto her bed where she curled into a ball. She didn’t fight the tears anymore.

She knew no one would follow her. No one would want to.

A month ago such words wouldn’t have shaken her but she wasn’t the same girl as then.

That girl would have said something back because she believed in herself. That girl would have made a proclamation about being assured that of course there is a family waiting for her because she the same as Queen Cordelia is ready to go through the whole world to find them. That girl still had hoped. That girl still had dreamed.

The older girls had been always telling her that she was a naive dreamer and that it was only because she was small, inexperienced and foolish. They would shoot her condescending looks or say she was worth of just pity, whenever she had started talking about the future she could see for herself, the future of home, family and friends. Till she was still a half of their height, they kept simply ignoring her, but with her growing up and more hit with unsuccessful placements, their disregard changed, just not in the way Anne had expected.

Anne herself had to admit that each return made it harder and took more of her strength to convince herself that it was just a wrong attempt, perhaps a misguided step but **not** a missed opportunity. So far, her first leave for the butchers turned out to be the longest and nicest experience. Anne had learnt that yes, the couples willing to take her, they did want the helping hand but upon realisation that with it also came another hungry head to take care of, their excitement quickly changed into an angry irritation that had never been attempted to conceal. She had already experienced four such families but as neither of them could be ever considered **her** family, she believed that a true chance for her still existed. Her hope of belonging to somewhere, of belonging to someone, continued to live on which then kept infuriating the fellow residents of their house more and more.

It seemed that no-one could forgive her the resilience, and particularly, the ongoing optimistic approach to her future. The more she talked about her believes, the more others insisted on trampling them down with their remarks. The girls had started to call her nuts and after time, she rather kept away not to get into needles arguments.

Perhaps it was then fate that had put the Volume in her path.

One afternoon four weeks ago, when she had been hiding under the stairs to the attic, she had found an old, abandoned book titled Jane Eyre Vol. I. Anne, excited to get her hands on another story, had started reading immediately. It was a story about an orphan living under terrible circumstances in London (she wasn’t surprised it was hidden here in the most dusty corner because such book the nurses would have never allowed).

The orphan Jane had to live with her relatives that didn’t like her, didn’t understand her and thus was treating her badly, before she transferred into an infamous school Longwood which changed her life. Even though, Longwood was also cold and the most horrible place, Jane found there something spectacular, something that helped. Something that filled Anne with unbearable longing.

Because Anne never had a friend.

Very early on after her first arrival, it had became clear that she was different in a way that somewhat managed to irritate both their guardians and her peers. Between nurses and other girls, there was never really anyone who could have been considered her ally, her companion nor even a seconder of her voice. On the contrary, she was accused of being weird, lost in her dreams and abstruse talks. She was often ordered to be quiet which was sometimes simply impossible for her and earned her punishments that nobody wanted to be part of. Not that Anne would enjoy seeking them out, but it was just that her brain couldn’t grasp how anyone could be quiet about the magnificent things that were able to find their way even to them. How could anyone **not** marvel over the colourful butterfly that flew even into their grey classroom?

Last month, reading about Jane and her ordeals, and about the wonder of a friendship, she started to dream about also finding a dear soul, a true kindred spirit of her own. And it was a longing so intangible but so real that it sometimes made her think only about that and nothing else. It made her consider other girls’ relations. It made her care what they thought of her.

Besides she had just enough of all the sharp words and shouts how she was weird, loud and too much. How such weirdo like her couldn’t ever find a family wanting her. How she would stay alone and unwanted forever. The matrons of their orphanage despised her. Other girls in their room hated her. She had no one because she was a freak.

So she had tried. She had left all quirks and extraordinary. Quit different. She had tried to do what’s expected. Tried to act and talk like the others were telling her to. Like a _decent girl_. Tried to fit in.

Only, it had seemed to have no effect at all. She still received dirty looks. Everyone was still picking on her, shouting at her, criticising her unmercifully. At first, she had told herself that it was just matter of time, that they needed **time** to notice and process the change, to accept the new Anne.

But even after two weeks, everything had remained the same.

And a week after, it got even worse.

While she had been shutting herself down, feeling only empty and broken, others had found a new way to pick on her. For a change, she was told that she had ugly and weird hair, that her skin was cursed, marked by freckles and her arms and legs were too skinny to consider girly. Nobody could say one nice word to her, nobody would accept her, making her slowly realise that she would always remain a freak to them, no matter what.

It all became too much, too overwhelming. Somewhere between banishing all traits that she was chided for and trying to copy other girls behaviours, Anne succumbed to her lonely feelings and completely lost all that had made her happy before. She didn't dream and she didn't imagine.

Today was just another day she would be laying down on her bed without any purpose, any interest or any desire to do anything else in the middle of exceptionally sunny day. Hot tears were pouring down her cheeks and she didn’t care. Like everybody else.

In the moment, when the winter sun was so high on the sky that its shine enlightened even their shadowy rusty room, there was the squeaky sound of opening door followed by cracks on the wooden floor, letting her know that somebody came in. Anne didn’t move, hoping that whoever they were, they would leave her alone.

“You’ve got very nice hair,” said a shy voice somewhere behind Anne’s back.

First, she didn’t react, not able to comprehend that such statement could have been addressed to her. However the silence was passing without any other sound for so long, that Anne couldn’t take it any longer, sorely sat up and slowly turned around.

Looking up, she saw a dainty girl wearing their typical ugly dress form, although hers looked spruced remarkably by the straight lines of a linen apron covering the brown dress. There was no loose point, no wrinkle, all folds prevailing precisely in the right spots. It made Anne wonder how long the girl had to take to actually tie it in this way. She guessed she wouldn’t be able to do it even if she had tried thousand times.

For the first time in a week, Anne felt shame for her own state. Her apron had to be certainly very wrinkly and loose, eyes red and puffy from crying and hair in horrendous mess as she couldn’t remember the last time she combed them.

While this girl - this girl clearly didn't belong to their orphanage bedroom. Her complexion was beautifully fair without any marks, her dark brown locks were braided in that sophisticated way that Anne saw only on the street and she wasn’t also as scrawny as was typical for girls walking this old room. The two of them had to form such unmatched picture, that it made Anne almost laugh.

Almost.

Because when she looked into her eyes, she could recognise the telling lost look caused by a sudden loss and the unbelievable sadness. Her sky blue eyes stared at Anne with a look of freshly abandoned kitten, ripped out of its mother’s lair and left alone to face the big predatory world.

 _She’s new_ , thought Anne sombrely.

“Others are downstairs.”

“I know. I didn’t feel comfortable there,” said the girl and looked down.

Anne wasn’t sure what to do. Just that this kid seemed nice her first day (she said Anne had nice hair!), didn’t mean that she wouldn’t join the mean girls tomorrow and pick on Anne together with everybody else later. But still, she was obviously in pain and there wasn’t anybody else here. Anne couldn’t just ignore her, right?

The silence went on a little longer as Anne continued staring at the girl and the girl continued staring at the floor. Anne expected tension to fill the air like steam during her laundry turns, but the longer they remained in their spots, quiet, the more Anne could feel instead of uncomfortable tension a sort of soft bond start forming between them. Both of them wore the same uniform, both of them were in pain and both of them were clearly lost. One could sense the surprisingly not unpleasant jitters running between them.

 _Does she also seek out any other than solitary understanding?_ , pondered Anne.

Before she could truly observe that thought further however, the girl looked up directly into her eyes, and even though she still hadn’t said anything, bravely made three steps towards Anne’s bed.

Anne decided to be brave too.

She wiped the remnants of tears out of her eyes and moved further on her tiny bed, gesticulating carefully for the girl to take the empty space.

The girl nodded and gracefully lowered down onto the mattressopposite Anne and smoothed her skirt neatly while Anne sat on her heels, hands stuck underneath, considering her next move.

“I’m Anne,” she chose to introduce herself. “With an e.”

The second part slipped her tongue uncontrollably and Anne froze, berating herself for falling again into her old quirks so carelessly. With held breath, she awaited the mocking laugh or snort that just had to come now.

However, the girl only smiled, not giving Anne even an odd look and introduced herself with a friendly voice.

“I’m Katherine. Kate.”

Anne was still somewhat in shock but managed to carefully smile back. She tried to remember the last time somebody smiled at her.

_Was this even real?_

“Can I style your hair, Anne?” Kate asked and as if pulling a rabbit out of the hat, her hand slowly reached her low bun and extracted a delicate wooden comb without moving a single strand.

“My hair?” repeated Anne. They had to look horrid, braided carelessly in one big mess.

“Yes, they’re truly unique,” Kate surprised her again with what seemed like an honest remark.

“Alright,” Anne agreed, intrigued where this would go. Should she turn?

Kate’s smile grew. “I love braids,” she said, suggestively raising her right brow.

Anne returned her smile, now truly pleased. “Me too!”

They both laughed, strangely happy for the one small thing they had in common already. Anne turned after Kate indeed waved her hand for her to do so. The brunette girl started to very carefully untangle the red strands and after a while, neither could keep silent.

It didn’t take long for them to find a common ground in other areas as well and they spent all afternoon opening up to each other and telling stories what they had experienced till now.

Because since this day, they were inseparable.

Friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Uff, I really hope you don’t hate me right now. I promise that Anne’s pain came so she could start her journey to heal and become even braver and more amazing person that she is when coming to Green Gables, and that I’ve always admired. (I hope to be able to push this feeling through the individual chapters.)
> 
> Firstly, I had thought that most chapters would be of the present storyline that was introduced in the previous part of the prologue, but I found out that this second storyline describing Kate and her friendship with Anne took significant place in my heart as well and I have much more to say than originally planned. Currently, the storylines’ll go one after the other. Yet, if you don’t want to read about Kate and Anne, you can stick only to the /present/ chapters as it still shouldn’t be difficult to follow the plot. All chapters will be marked accordingly at the beginnings.


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